Tame Your Anxious Mind with the Marshmallow Meditation Analogy

Tame Your Anxious Mind with the Marshmallow Meditation Analogy

Imagine you are in your first private meditation session, and your instructor asks you to close your eyes. Then, they tell you they will throw marshmallows at your torso for 15 minutes, with each marshmallow representing one thought.

For most people, the thoughts that arise when they close their eyes are often anxious, fearful, upsetting, or angry – thanks to our evolutionary need to scan for threats. Negative thoughts can come rapidly, like a flurry of marshmallows hitting you.

How might you react to being pummeled by marshmallow? Some common automatic thoughts include:

- Getting angry at yourself: "Why am I here? Did I make a mistake booking this?"
- Getting frustrated with the instructor: "What's the deal? Why are they doing this?"
- Feeling anxious: "Can I really tolerate this for 15 minutes? Should I open my eyes and stop?"

Physically, you might try to fight and resist the marshmallows, knocking them away. But this can tire you out quickly.

The Mindful Way to Handle the Marshmallow Attack

There's a better way to react – by accepting the situation and employing strategies to tolerate it mindfully:

- Focus on your breathing
- Observe the marshmallows hitting you without reacting
- Let your thoughts come and go without struggle

This mindful approach conserves your energy and can make the experience tolerable.

Mastering Relaxation Meditation

The goal of relaxation meditation is to learn to sit through 15 minutes of rapidly arising thoughts – positive, negative or neutral – without struggling against them. The marshmallow analogy teaches you this vital meditation skill in a relatable way.

With practice, you'll be able to observe your thoughts objectively during meditation, rather than reacting impulsively.

Key Takeaways

- The marshmallow meditation analogy is a way to think about how we can better handle intrusive thoughts.
- Our instinct is often to struggle against anxious thoughts, which is tiring
- Mindfully observing and allowing thoughts to come and go conserves energy
- The Relaxation Meditation technique helps you find inner calm and peace